Who Is Your Hero?

I love superhero movies. I like
watching these men and women use their otherworldly powers to save humanity
over and over again. Yet there are some things that have always bothered me
about these superheroes:

In the beginning the bad guy
beats them up.

There is some flaw in the hero or
there’s this one thing that can result in their destruction.

Image courtesy of Canva.com

Yet invariably there’s a disaster
and everyone starts clamoring for the hero. The comic book industry did much
to popularize the concept of hero and villain. But I believe that humanity has
always looked for someone to save them.

What Are the Traits of A Hero?

My son likes to ask me the
question: “If you could have any superpower what would it be?” The list
includes things like super speed, super strength, telekinetic ability, flight
and time travel. I’m always challenged to answer because there’s usually a
limit to the amount of powers that he allows me to select.

There are many characteristics
that we believe a good hero should have. The major ones are:

The list gets even longer as we
start to add superpowers like speed, strength and the whole works. But if I
could write a job description for my superhero it would look something like
this:

I want someone to fight for me
even when the trouble I’m in is because of my own foolish choice. I want him to
do it because he cares for me and not only out of some sort of obligation. It
shouldn’t be a “well I have all these superpowers so I have to save people”
kind of thing. And if it is my fault, he shouldn’t rub my face in it.

I want someone who is not afraid
of the villain. I know we have this new concept that a “true hero” is someone
who’s afraid and does what needs to be done anyway. I’m all for the “every day
hero”. But I want my hero to be someone the bad guy’s afraid of and not the
other way around.

A man of integrity – my hero
should have an incorruptible code of conduct. He should be above bribes and
unethical behavior. He should be someone who says what he means and does what
he says he will do. If he says he’s going to be there at x time, then he should
be there. I shouldn’t be worrying about politic-speak because he won’t double
talk me.

I want a hero who does not have
flaws. He should be mighty and courageous and superior in every way. I like
Superman but his susceptibility to kryptonite is beyond ridiculous. Especially
when every bad guy in the world had access to it and knew how to use it.

Image courtesy of Canva.com

He always on call. There are no
days off, no sick time, or any vacation days. While I may not need saving every
second of the day, my hero needs to be available in case I need him.

Humility is a must. The last
thing I want is a hero who’s always flaunting the things he does for me on
social media or on the news. I don't want him to get to the point that he
becomes so caught up in his “likes” that he loses sight of his biggest job.

I know you’re probably wondering
why I’ve decided to go on a superhero rant. Let me explain. I started thinking
about the traits that we should look for in a hero. Then I wondered, “What’s
the Hebrew word for hero?”

A little bit of Google research
revealed the word gibbor. Next I read this post on the subject of the
translation of the word gibbor.

The Strong’s number for gibbor is
H1368. It can be translated as powerful, warrior, tyrant, champion, chief,
excel, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man. And yes,
tyrant is an option for the translation. As we look at some of the verses where
the word was used it makes perfect sense:

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began
to be a mighty one in the earth.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod
the mighty hunter before the Lord.
(Genesis 10:8-9 KJV, emphasis added)

Therefore David ran, and stood
upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof,
and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw
their champion was dead, they fled.
(I Samuel 17:51 KJV, emphasis added )

So I started thinking: “What if
we thought of God as our hero?”

Is God Your Hero?

Some time ago I did an interview
with Francesca Price of Flourishing Families. One of the questions I asked her
was “Who’s your favorite superhero?” With two young children at home I expected
her to respond with the name of one of the Marvel or DC characters. To my
surprise her response was “Jesus is my superhero.”

What characteristics of the
triune God should make him our hero?

Let’s examine the traits of God
that make him the Ultimate Superhero.

Promises Kept

In Genesis 3:1 the first villain makes an appearance. He beguiles the woman into disobedience by twisting words and causing doubt. In a few short verses humanity goes from perfection to being in need of a savior. God steps in and makes a promise that the Messiah – the Ultimate Savior – will come to save the human race.

And I will put enmity Between you
and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 NKJV

Immediately the villain knows
that he cannot win. He only “bruises our hero’s heel” but gets his head
crushed. Thus began the most complex and epic superhero vs. super villain
conflict of all times. We know that in due season the Messiah came and died for
our sins as the ultimate sacrifice. God kept his word.

We see repeated examples in
scripture that God is faithful. He keeps his promises even when his people are
disobedient and fail to hold up their end of the deal.

A Savior of All

Jesus, the Son of God, came to
earth so that every person who ever lived or who will ever be born has a chance
to receive eternal life.

The LORD thy God in the midst of
thee is mighty; he will save, he will
rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee
with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17 KJV, emphasis added)

Mighty in Battle

You may be familiar with El
Gibbor as one of the names of God. El Gibbor translates to ‘The Mighty God’.

Who is this King of glory? The
LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. (Psalm 24:8 KJV, emphasis added)

One of my favorite stories is
found in Joshua 5:3-15. On the verge of storming the city of Jericho Joshua
sees a man with a drawn sword. Joshua doesn’t recognize him so he asks, “Are
you an enemy or a friend?”

The man replies, “I am a
commander of the army of the Lord.”

God is not only mighty in battle,
he commands a mighty army. He is Elohim Tsebaoth.

Man of Integrity

A lot of times we witness the
fall of great men and women in our society. They accept bribes or commit
crimes. God is above bribery and corruption. He doesn’t need anything so
there’s nothing that anyone can offer him to cause him to favor them over
another person.

“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord
of lords, the great God, mighty and
awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. (Deuteronomy 10:17 NKJV,
emphasis added)

If we read the Bible and
substituted 'hero' wherever we see 'mighty', 'champion' or 'giant', familiar
stories would get a new twist. We would see the difference between the human
heroes and God who is the Ultimate Hero.

For example, in the story of
David and Goliath there are two heroes, or at least a superhero and a villain.
Goliath is the villain of the story yet he was the Philistine’s champion. In
his case we see how he lorded his superiority over the Israelites. Goliath
taunted them every day for 40 days. He knew there was no one in the Israel camp
who could match him for size or strength.

Then we see a young boy less than half his size take him on and win. David exhibited an audacious kind of bravery as he approached Goliath. After he killed Goliath he was the hero of the Israel people.

But even David, as valiant as he was, was not perfect. His flaws led to the murder of a man. They almost led to civil war (twice) when one of his sons rebelled against the ruling monarchy.

Super Everything

Even the fastest superhero can’t
be everywhere at once. God can. He is Omni-present.

Superheroes have to rely on being
able to access and interpret information as it unfolds. If the intelligence is
faulty, their reaction will be too. Goes know everything before it happens. He
is omniscient. He has access to every piece of information that exists or will
exist. He is All-Knowing.

No Hidden Flaws

Achilles was a mighty warrior in
Greek mythology who was almost invulnerable. His only vulnerable area was his heel.
Some legends claim that Achilles died when he was shot in the heel by an arrow.

We have the joy of knowing that God cannot be defeated or destroyed. He has no
hidden flaws. He’s not allergic to kryptonite or averse to anything. He is
Omnipotent.

God meets all the criteria of a
perfect superhero. Why then do we not give him the praise and adoration that he
deserves?

Who is your hero? Is it a family
member or a close friend? A public figure? Share it with us in the comments
below.

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Hi!

I'm Aminata Coote. Thanks for stopping by. I'm a wife, mother, writer and devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I invite you to walk with me on this journey to know God, know ourselves and run our race.